Eco-Friendly

Environmentally friendly, environment-friendly, eco-friendly, nature-friendly, and green are terms referring to goods and habitats, services, laws, guidelines and policies that inflict reduced, minimal, or no harm upon ecosystems or the environment

Because as anyone who gives two hoots about “the environment” knows, it’s not about hugging a tree or saving fuzzy animals. What’s at stake when we talk about “environmental issues” is the ability of human beings to breathe and eat. If we can’t feed ourselves real food because we’ve degraded our topsoil to such an extent that we’re “soylent greening” it up, or if we change the climate so massively that much of our history ends up under water, these seem like criminal acts to me — acts by people today on the people of the future.

The Bastelli family pose next to a chicken coop they fashioned out a trampoline in an episode of ‘Unplugged Nation.’ (Photo: ‘Unplugged Nation’/FYI) By Gerri Miller | MNN.com Many urban dwellers fantasize about living a simpler life in a secluded place, severing ties with the power grid and the trappings of ever-connected 21st century life. […]

What the researchers found was that 71 percent of the rise in carbon emissions from 1997 to 2007 was due to “economic growth.” Alternately, “83 percent of the decrease during 2007-2009 was due to decreased consumption and changes in the production structure of the U.S. economy,” with just 17 percent related to changes in the type of fuels used.

Today, environmentally-minded nations of the world increasingly embrace alternative energy sources. These countries now lead the way toward a future free of petroleum and dirty energy. In the process, they save significant amounts of money on national energy costs while preserving and protecting the world’s natural resources.

A recent analysis by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) found that about 17 percent of U.S. coal-fired power production generation will cease to exist within the next few years, with Bloomberg Business stating that “the industrial age was built on coal. The next 25 years will be the end of its dominance.”

In Nigeria, 16 million housing units are required to address a shortage problem. Recently they found an inventive way to address the shortage problem, cut costs and help the environment – by building plastic bottle homes.

Known as community solar, solar gardens, or more simply shared solar, GTM researchers found that the U.S. “market is approaching a tipping point.” With a total of 66 megawatts installed cumulatively by the end of 2014, the report predicts that installations will grow five-fold in 2015, with 115 megawatts installed. By 2020, there will be 1.8 gigawatts, nearly equivalent to the total amount of solar power installed in the United States in 2012.

Utilizing high-tech construction to create ecological ‘smart-villages,’ many rural families can expect to increase their monthly income 3-fold while living in an integrated, sustainable farm system that includes a communal farming operation of aquaponics, grain-fields watered from the fish tanks with ‘high-cost’ plants, trees, and special technology in ‘autopots’ that reduce the need for pesticides and fertilizers.

A new study by Mark Z. Jacobson of Stanford University in collaboration with U.C. Berkeley is the first guidebook for all 50 states to run on 100 per cent renewable energy by 2050. If progressive politicians at the state level put the plan into action, each state could achieve at least an 80 per cent transition as early as 2030.

Is life about attaining financial security — potentially giving up one’s passions in exchange for a stable job — or is it about taking risks to live the life you really want to live or never even imagined possible before? These are the questions that Canadian couple Mat and Danielle of Exploring Alternatives asked themselves before quitting their jobs, selling their house and embarking on a two-year-long journey in a converted van that has brought them to various places all over Canada and the United States. In the process, they’ve learned that life is not about stuff, but unforgettable experiences.

Thinking about buying an electric car? While more people appear to be embracing these fuel-efficient, environmentally friendly rides, softening the financial investment in these cars is easier in certain cities.

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